56 TECH ADVISOR • NOVEMBER 2019GAMING SPECIALonly model with a touchscreen. This comes with a
GTX 1070 graphics card and 512GB storage.
We tested the Full HD model with a 144Hz refresh
rate, which comes with a choice of graphics card and
hard drive. This will be the best option for most if
your budget stretches. It will be worth it for the extra
smoothness that the increased refresh rate provides.
We like the matte finish on the Full HD options but
the display isn’t the brightest we’ve seen at 275cd/m^2 ,
so we almost always had it at full brightness.
The colourful display offers 99 percent of sRBG,
but the 76 percent of Adobe RGB, the gamut favoured
by designers, isn’t so great. This is a gaming laptop
though, so this is only an issue if you’re looking for one
that can be used for both work and play – in which case
the Gigabyte Aero 15X will suit you better.Core specs and performance
Regardless of which model you choose, you’re going
to an 8th-generation Intel processor. As you’d expect
from a high-end gaming laptop, it’s a Core i7-8750H – a
6-core, 12-thread, 9MB cache chip with a 2.2GHz base
speed and up to 4.1GHz with Max Turbo. That’s the
same as the Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501.
Every Blade 15 comes with 16GB of DDR4 2667MHz
RAM, though you can upgrade it to 32GB. Windows
10 comes pre-installed, of course. Storage goes up to
512GB in the form of an M.2 SSD, but it depends what
combination of things you want.
In terms of graphics, there’s an Nvidia GTX 1060 or
1070 (our review unit) in the Max-Q form, essentially
versions of the desktop cards made for thin laptops. If56 TECH ADVISOR • NOVEMBER 2019
GAMING SPECIAL
onlymodelwitha touchscreen.Thiscomeswitha
GTX1070 graphics card and 512GB storage.
We tested the Full HD model with a 144Hz refresh
rate, which comes with a choice of graphics card and
hard drive. This will be the best option for most if
your budget stretches. It will be worth it for the extra
smoothness that the increased refresh rate provides.
We like the matte finish on the Full HD options but
thedisplayisn’tthebrightestwe’veseenat275cd/m^2 ,
sowe almost always had it at full brightness.
The colourful display offers 99 percent of sRBG,
but the 76 percent of Adobe RGB, the gamut favoured
by designers, isn’t so great. This is a gaming laptop
though, so this is only an issue if you’re looking for one
that can be used for both work and play – in which case
the Gigabyte Aero 15X will suit you better.Core specs and performance
Regardless of which model you choose, you’re going
to an 8th-generation Intel processor. As you’d expect
from a high-end gaming laptop, it’s a Core i7-8750H – a
6-core, 12-thread, 9MB cache chip with a 2.2GHz base
speed and up to 4.1GHz with Max Turbo. That’s the
same as the Asus ROG Zephyrus GX501.
Every Blade 15 comes with 16GB of DDR4 2667MHz
RAM, though you can upgrade it to 32GB. Windows
10 comes pre-installed, of course. Storage goes up to
512GB in the form of an M.2 SSD, but it depends what
combination of things you want.
In terms of graphics, there’s an Nvidia GTX 1060 or
1070 (our review unit) in the Max-Q form, essentially
versions of the desktop cards made for thin laptops. If